Animal trap



J, A. MERTZ ET 'AL ANIMAL TRAP Filed Janf 5, 1922 JAMES A. MLERTZ, OF "WEBSTER CTY, .T GTIA, AND FRANK PPUESTLEY, OF TVOUNTAIN GROVE, TKISSOURI.

NBCCAL TRAE?.

Application filed January 3, 1922. Serial-No. 528,826.

To 'all whom it may 00a-cern:

Beit lknown that we, Janus A jMnn'rz and FRANK Pnins'rLnY, citizens oi the United States, residing at lWebster City, inthe county oi' Hamilton and State ot lowa, and at Mountain Grove, in the countyy of' Wright and State ot' Missouri, respectively, have invented a certain new Trap, or' which the following is specification.

The object or our invention is to provide an animal'trap oi simple, cheap and durable construction.

'A further object is to provide sucha trap of a *spring` actuated type, having a movable jaw and being so constructed and arranged that the'tray may be set with the jaw open and springheld under tension by a trigger structure without placing the :lingers between the jaws where theyk are likely to be caught Vand 'pinched when the v trap-is being-set.

Another object is to provide suoli a trap, which is provided with engagfing members so arranged that the trap may be conveniently released: a't'ter it has heen sprung without vtouching'the animal 'which mayy have been caught.

Still' another object-is to provide such a' trap havingits parts so constructed and arranged that the trap may be conveniently made of metal parts, so that it will be especiallly durable and may be placed in boiling water 'to-r sterilizing it without injury to the trap.

lilith these and other objects in view, our invention consists in the coiistruction,` arrangement and combination of the various part-s oii our device, \.'liei;eby the objects @outemplated are attained, as hereinafter more 'fullyy set iorth. pointed out in our claim, and illustrated in the accompanying dra-wings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view ot a trap embodying our invention. Figure 2 shows a detailed sectional view taken on the line 2-2 oi' Figure 1 and .Figure 3 shows a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2 with the trap set.

.In the accompanying drawings have used the reference nume-ral 10 to indicate a plate which forms the body ot our trap and one jaw thereof, the latter being indicated at 10,

{At the oppositie end of the body 10, from the jaw 10A is a curved extension 11 and useful animal which is curved upwardly and away `from the body 10 and then downwardly as illustrated in Figures 1 and 3. ln the curved extension 11 is: a hole 1Q which serves ior hanging up the trap.

The body 10 is provided at its side edges near the extension 11 with upwardly extending ears 13. In the ears 13 is mounted a. shaft on pintle la. A trigger plate 15 is arranged above the jaw 1t)a and bodyflO as shown in Figures 1 and 3, and is journalled on rod 14 bysuitable means, such tor instance, as, the members 16 formed on the plate 15 and-curved Aaround the shaft 141-.

rlhe plate 15 has just rearwardly oit the shaft 14 an extension 17, which is inclined upwardly when the plate 15 rests on the jaw 10a, and `has atA itsA upper end a rearwardly inclined engaging member 18.

At the sides of the, body 10, spaced forwardly, from the-ears '13 .are upwardly eX- tending ears 19.

The movable jaw ofthe trap is pivotedto the ears 19 by some` suitable means such, for instance,` as the shattfQO. The movable jaw. maybe. made in any suitable form, which should have a jaw member suoli, or instance, as the vplate 21'and aliandleinem- -ber 22 inc-lined vat a` substantia-langle with relation thereto. v

ln the form of the. invention disclosed in the drawings, the plate 21 has at its sides and its forward edge, downwardly incline-d walls 23 and 24e which, as illustrated, are provided with teeth t the outer end of the handle is a por-- tion 26 inclined away from the handle .32 aG shown, 'for instance, in Figure 1. VIn the handle 22 near the outer end thereof is ar opening 2T. 0n the shaft 20 is mounted a coil spring` 2S, having a portion Q9 which is extended around one ear 19 and another portion 30, which engages the rear tace oi the handle 22, in such manner that the v Spring is under ttension ttor holding the jaws Q1 and 10 together.

rllhe spring 28 is also so arranged that its tension is increased as the jaw 21 is moved toward the position it assumes when the trap is set.

The trigger plate 15 has a pointed member or the like 31 in front of' the shaft. 20 as shown in Figure 3.

1n setting the trap, the user presses the handle 22 rearwardly and downwardly and lOZi causesthe extension 18 to be received in the opening 27. The springl 28tends to move the` 21 toward engaging position with the relation to the j avv 10a. The tension ol the spring will properly hold the trap in its set position illustrated, in Figure 3.

Bait 32 shown by dotted lines in Figure 3 may be placed on the pointed member 31. The setting of the trap may be doneivith one hand and the trap can be heldv by means of the handle 22 in open er set position,

'While the'lbaitis being placed in position. lt vwill be seen that the setting of the trap may be Vaccomplished Without danger of pinching the hands of the userand that the bait may be installed While the trap is easily held in open position.

The construction o'lithe plate 15 and the extension 17 and engaging' member 18 is such that when the trap is set the plate 15 .is

slightly raisefh as sl'ioivn in VFigure 2l. lllhen anA animal steps 4on the plate 15'n in order ,to reach the bait 32 the engaging member .C A1 18 is moved iorivardly so tnat it clears the edgesv of the opening 27 'for permitting' ythe spring 28 tocause the movable to snap to closed position. l

An'animal 'which has been caught in the trap'may be released from the jaws With- Voutthe necessity of touching' the animal on account of the arrangement vof the handle 22 andthe extension ll'which also serves as the' handle. Av chain may be secured to theextension 11 idesired.

It will be seen thatthe vconstructiini of our t-rap is such that it can be readily made of metal and hence -can be scalded or otherwise disinfe'cted vvitlio'ut injury., 1 slt will be noted that 'We have provided a humane animal trap by so `constructing and arranging the parts, that the neck and back our claim, any

of the animal Will be caught, so that the neel;V and back Will be broken and the animal paralyzed, so that death Will practically be instantaneous. 'y v The parts are of very simple construction and the trap can be manufactured atY small expense. l

VSome changes may be made in the con-V struction and arrangement of the Various parts 0f the trap without departing from theessential purpose and spirit of our inventiomV and it modified forms of structure or points of mechanical improvements, which may be reasonably included Within its scope. Y

We claim as our invention il. trap comprisingV a body' having ajaW member portion and a rearwardly' VprojectI- ing` portion, a. jaw member pivoted tothe is onrfintention to cover by rear pai-t of said first jaw member, comprisKVV the hait will be captured, Whether engagedby the liange members of the second jawy member or'not when the trap is released. i Des Moines7 iowa, December 17, 1921.

JAMES n. MnnT-Z. FRANK rainer n 

